Have booked next year's trip

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

Off to Plan Peisey with Esprit in January. Am very excited.

Anyone else booked anywhere yet?

Nearly 4 can be a difficult age tbh - they have some determination but lack stamina and physical coordination and get cold qucikly waiting their turn. A lot of ski schools have rigid entry ages, few genuinely cater for under 4's to ski, whatever Esprit et al claim, especially at peak times like half term. 4, sometimes 5 is the minimum for Ski School but some operate a ski kindergarten with a creche and some snow play. USA supposedly caters better of lo's who want to ski but flying distance, jet lag and cold are not ideal.

Also last year the snow in Europe was dreadful so you'd need to go high and/or glacial to be snow sure. Austria is a nice place to start with english widely spoken but snow conditions can be patchy. Choose a resort with other things going on (indoor pool, sledging, sleigh rides, winter walks etc) so you are just committed to skiing.

Yorkie, we went with Esprit last year and I know others who have done the same. I also know some people here on MN think Esprit are appalling. However we went with a 5 and 7 year old and I couldn't fault them on their childcare, how much my kids loved their holiday and on the overall experience. Yes there were issues re quality of service/food/understanding of what children will/won't eat (huge plate fo thickly sliced overcooked roast moeat which was almost indigestable from adults POV - springs t mind) BUT the childcare staff were fab and the 'skirangers' those that went up teh mountain with my girls are great too.

In some ways I wouldn't worry about WHERE you go in regards o the kids. Itis more about how you go IYKWIM. For us Esprit was perfect as we dropped them off at 8.30, they were taken to their lessions, with English speaking instructers and only 6 in a class, with their new made friends. They were brought back and given lunch, and then we either picked them up to have more ski-ing, or they stayed in snow club for the pm. Drawing, painting, going for walks etc etc.

IMHO we could have been ANYWHERE in the world, so it meant we decided where DH and I would get teh best ski-ing. We ended up in Montchavin (part of la Plagne) which was a tiny village (compltete with goat farm smell) but due to the poor snow conditions, totally without snow!! However one quick chair lift up we were fine and we had access to La Plagne and Les Arcs. Great ski-ing considering the weather!!.

Thsi year we have booked with Espritt o go to Meribel, we have gone for a chalet hotel (up to 100 poepl inc kids) instead of a chalet for 14. It is on the piste, in a huge skiing area.

With a 4/6 year old my priorities are that they have good lessons, preferably with english kids/instructor as they get FAR more oout of it both of mine were bombing around blue runs by the end of the first week. I also wanted time when DH and I could ski for a full day, so good childcare was important. We were able to ski from 1st lift until 2pm everyday, and 3 days we skied all day. They do need down time, so snow club was good, skiing all day long at that age is exhauting.
we are going here Chjalet Alba in Meribel, it is on special offer atm for 20th Jan!! We saved about £700 off brochure price

this place is fabulous for kids

liz ski espirt do a 'spritelets' class for 3 and 4 year olds which I watched one day. They had an instructor and another snow ranger for 6 kids. They were well looked after and had loads of fun. By the end of the week they were confident on teh simple nursery slopes. However I agree that 4 is pretty young. We tried our DD2 off when she was nearly 4 and it was a disaster. At nearly 6 she was great

sorry "so you are n't just committed to skiing. "

I would however point out that skiing with a 5 and 7 years old is a very different experience than with a nearly 4 year old. I've seen enough sobbing preschoolers sat in snowgardens , watching the lesson going on without them regardless. You need to be very confident of their ability to cope and the childcarers to know when to call it a day to then go off happily yourself and learn to ski. What works for one family , might not for another.

posts x'd!

Yes, my son did work for Esprit, he was a Snow Ranger for a short while, which was too long! He stuck it for 10 weeks and then had to blag a lift to the airport and pay his own way home. Or rather I did.

My DS is a childminders' son and knows what minimum standards should be. There were no minimum standards. He was aghast at the lack of cleanliness in the creche, DS asked me to bring out lots of games, books etc. I provided lots of resources as they had no budget to do so, and I didn't get them back.

You do not get paid for 2 weeks, you do not get paid for the training week, the pay is always wrong, the pay is awful works out about £1 an hour, as you end up doing at least 70 hours a week and no you don't get sufficient time off to go skiing for any decent amount of time. You have to pay a £100 bond in case you leave before the end of the season as so many do. Many left before DS did!

My son became ill from lack of food, poor washing facilities and general overwork as they always have to cover for someone else who is off sick. Some people enjoy it, but you need to have very low expectations, it may get better if you do more than one season as then you are the supervisor and in charge of all newbies.

DS is not afraid of hard work, he has been in Canada for the last two seasons and is in New Zeland at the moment, he is having a fantastic time and is loving teaching children. He works good hours, gets good time off and is well paid too. He comes back at the end of November and will be off to Canada at the beginning of December. He comes back positively glowing with health!

He is only 20 now, and will qualify as a Level 3 instructor this winter. He get tuition every morning himself before he starts the day, and it is free.

They will be lucky if they get to ski more than a couple of times a week. It won't be easy to book lessons as you never know from one day to the next when you are gping tom have to work.

Not to be all doom and gloom, there are many far better companies to work for who treat their staff with respect and we met several while we were there. If the holidays are cheap; Total and Ski Esprit are the bottom end of the market, it's not surprising the staff are so poorly paid

Aghhhhh Crunchie. We're going that week but missed the Meribel offer - am gutted now!!!!

Wendy Weber - tell your kid to check out the natives.co.uk website. Its a forum for chalet staff and they will get loads of info.

Yorkiegirl - your kids are a great age for learning to ski. dd had 3 years of Esprit creche and then when she was 3 (nearly 4) had her first spritelets season and loved it. Lots of schlepping about on skis to get used to them and building snowmen, etc. Last year at age 5 (nearly 6) she won the end of the week race and can confidently ski blue runs.

I know it was a great offer, although we booked on Friday they had run out of rooms for 4, we paid for the family of 5 price, plus room supplements for baths/balconys etc. Still good value IMHO, less than £400 a head

SKSS, thank you for that link, what a brilliant site!

ROFL

YG - look at crystal finest club hotel in courcheval - we went last year and it was the best holiday we have ever been on with children, so good we immediately booked again , if you want all the details scroll down the ski threads list , i started one when we came back something like..."best holiday ever" it would have been around end of march.

Ds1 and I are going with my parents to Austria somewhere in February half term and I am so excited, haven't skiied since before he was born. He will be nearly 5 and he's quite an active child so I hope he'll be ok with half day lessons. If he likes it we'll ski with him in the other half, otherwise we'll do something else. Bit vague about the location because Dad booked it..

DS2 is too little, he is going to stay at home doing male bonding with DH who doesn't ski....

And when I saw mummydoc's original post I booked it too! (thnaks md) - maybe a mumsnet meetup in Courchevel @ half-term

we usually go out of school hols but school is so expensive am rather loath for dd1 to miss any ( i know sounds really bad , not worried about her missing work just how much it costs , so probably see you htere at 1/2 term.

Mummydoc - when you were there before did you happen to notice if there were any parking facilities nearby? We have booked flights,but if there is decent parking I will drive down instead.